Introducing a Bottle? - Springfield,OR

I would say the sooner, the better, at this point. My son is now 4 months old and we didn't try introducing a bottle of breastmilk until he was 3 months old. He does not like it. No matter which bottle we try, it is not going very well. Definitely won't take it from me (which I expected... why suck on an artificial nipple when the real thing is right behind it, you know?) but my husband has been successful only a handful of times. I have almost cried dumping pumped breast milk that has been refused, down the drain. I want him to be able to take it from someone else -- I don't need or even desire to be away from him, but once in a while it would be nice! My sister introduced her new baby to breastmilk in the bottle at 3 weeks of age, and she is doing great. I definitely think that sooner is better! With my first son, we didn't even try until he was 6 months old, and that was absolutely NOT happening. Good luck!

Kim

The sooner the better! Both my boys took both the breast and bottle with no problem, but I started them on it right away so they would be used to both.

Double check with your pediatrician, but I'm pretty sure we started a bottle with my breastfed baby at 6ish weeks. She'll be 2 later this month and continues to breastfeed. :)

I would have done it a few weeks ago. So, in my opinion do it now. My Dr recommended doing it at four weeks old and that is what I did. It went great and she took both breast and bottle with no issues. Good luck.

Introduce it now! Right away! I hesitated to try a bottle with my breastfed twins, not wanting them to reject the breast, and they both ended up completely rejecting the bottle instead. As you can imagine, it made it very had for me to work! So do it now, before it's too late.

--N.

I highly recommend that have someone else giver her a bottle - then leave the room. Then have one feeding a day from daddy or so - she remains used to it.

Best of luck to you! I think we started at about a month using only breastmilk.

Our pediatrician recommended 4 weeks. The likelihood of a baby refusing the breast because the bottle is introduced too early is less of an issue than a baby refusing the bottle if introduced too late. I have met a lot of women whose babies refused to take the bottle. We introduced the bottle at 4 weeks with our son and then he refused it around 6 weeks. We had to be patient and persistant. Fortunately, he would take the bottle while I was at work if he was hungry enough. He still has variable days when he may only take 4 oz. and other days where he will take up to 16 oz. Our nanny also found him to accept the bottle more in his carseat or when lying down in the crib (it had to be away from people's arms...being held is only for breastfeeding=) in his mind).

Obviously, I can only speak from experience...both of my children (now 3.5 and 4 months) had a bottle within the first 2 weeks - my son only had breastmilk (either nursed or pumped) same with my daughter so far. Neither had any issues with confusion. Both also took pacifiers...I have several friends who waited, and when it came time when they wanted to stop nursing, they were unable to do so because their babies (6 all three that I am thinking of were over 6 months at the time) refused to take a bottle.

6 weeks is a great time. Maybe your husband can take on feeding a day, and use the bottle. If you leave the house (or at least the room) it will make things easier. (Or give him a night time feeding, and stay in bed!)
My learning from experience last time around was to introduce the bottle around 6 weeks, and then be consistent with it. Even if your daughter seems to take the bottle easily right away, keep giving one to her regularly so she continues to take it as she gets older. 6 week olds are very adaptable, but i think sometimes kids get pickier as they get older and more used to their habits!

Good luck!

I would try it now as long as breastfeeding is going well, you have no pain with feeding and baby is gaining well. We started our son on a daily bottle at 3 weeks and he never had many problems with it. He slightly rejected it for a week or two around 10 weeks but then we just kept offering once a day and he decided it was ok. Don't push baby if they are resisting or you will make them resist it more. Try bottle when baby is hungry but not starving and when they are rested. Bottle feeding is a new skill which will be more frustrating for them to learn if tired or starving.

As to who feeds, that depends on the baby. Try with you, partner if you have, other friends, etc.

Hello M.,
I personally tried to bottle feed both my girls around their 6th month and they didn't like it. So when they hit 7 months, I just graduated them onto sippy cups and they've been happy ever since. I hear it's a blessing to not have to work on weening them off of bottles. Don't be afraid to give it a try.

I would wait for a few more weeks than have your husband give her one bottle a day so she gets use to it. Good luck and Great job for giving your baby the best food you could give her!

We learned in our breastfeeding class that 4-6 weeks is the best time to introduce a bottle if you plan to keep nursing. It gives them time to get the hang of nursing and have their latch solid, but it's also early enough for them not to refuse the bottle because they only want the breast. So it sounds like now is a good idea! And it is a good idea to have someone else give them the bottle if possible. Good luck! It will be great. :)

We started with breastmilk in a bottle at 10 or 11 weeks (my husband gave the bottle) and I wish we'd started a litte earlier. My son really fought it for about 3 feedings before he gave in and decided it would work for him. I recommend leaving not only the room but also the house. :)

I introduced my daughter to a bottle when she was about 1 month old. I also breastfed her. I pumped and would use a bottle with my breast milk for when I went out in public, and I breastfed her at home. It didn't seem to confuse her. We still do it that way and she's almost 3 months old. So to answer your question I would defiantly introduce the bottle a good couple of weeks before you go back to work just in case she needs some time to get use to the whole bottle and breast feeding thing.

We introduced the bottle at about 7-8 weeks and she would not take it from anyone but me at first. it sounds wierd but I would nurse her a little and then unlatch her and give her bottle while she was still in the football hold. She associated me with eating and so she wanted me there. of course now she will not take a bottle from me! good luck with your little one and hope this helps.